Hydrogen: launch of the mosaHYc project

GRTgaz SA and Creos Deutschland GmbH are collaborating to create a 100% pure hydrogen infrastructure, connecting the Saar (Germany), Lorraine (France) and the Luxembourg border. This unprecedented agreement between the two grid operators aims to provide a 70 km-long infrastructure dedicated to hydrogen via the retrofitting of existing gas pipelines. This infrastructure will form the backbone of a regional and cross-border hydrogen hub that will foster the creation of a hydrogen valley between the three countries.

MosaHYc (Mosel Saar HYdrogen Conversion) will focus on the conversion of two existing pipelines into a 70-km pure hydrogen infrastructure, connecting Völklingen (Germany), Carling (France), Bouzonville (France) and Perl (Germany), capable to transport up to 20,000 m³/h (60 MW) of pure hydrogen.

The project will provide an infrastructure to supply clean hydrogen to the transport sector (train, bus, automobiles, trucks, …), in line with the green cross-border ambitions of Saarland, a German federal State, the Grand Est Region of France and Luxembourg. As such, mosaHYc is also a concrete contribution to the Green deal ambition that will address major environmental and societal challenges, including the issue of improving air quality in the Saar-Lor-Lux Region.

This hydrogen infrastructure will also be ideally located to support and connect further hydrogen developments foreseen in industrial clusters in Saarland and Lorraine, which historically have been strongly integrated. MosaHYc project will also strengthen the economic and industry attractiveness in this area.
Both gas grid operators are highly committed to abide by the strictest safety and quality standards when converting the existing pipelines. GRTgaz and Creos Deutschland will actively cooperate with the respective national authorities on the technical aspects, as well as the political and regulatory framework in order to allow for an investment decision on the pipeline system by 2022.

This infrastructure will offer easy and transparent access to various producers and consumers of hydrogen in Saarland (Germany), Lorraine (Grand Est) and Luxembourg. The strong trans-regional component of the project makes it particularly adapted to foster the development of a hydrogen hub across those three countries, based on renewable or low carbon hydrogen.

In the longer term, the project paves the way for the subsequent conversion of available gas pipelines to pure hydrogen in other geographies and will accelerate the development of a real cross-border hydrogen market in Europe.

“We are convinced of the importance of the development of hydrogen infrastructures at European scale. In this context, mosaHYc project brings a strong added value as it demonstrates the key role of gas infrastructure and its contribution to the European Union energy and climate objectives and to its industrial policy. Dialog with possible renewable or low-carbon hydrogen producers, grid users and authorities in Germany, France and also Luxembourg has already started and will be enhanced in the coming months”, Thierry Trouvé, CEO of GRTgaz, explains.

"Saarland is on the way to becoming a “Wasserstoffland”, a “Hydrogen State”. With the mosaHYc project we want to push forward this development. We think it is the right choice to use existing infrastructure for the transport of hydrogen now, at the beginning of the hydrogen age. This is much cheaper and more environmentally-friendly than building new pipelines. This concept is being embraced by Creos Deutschland, GRTgaz and other gas grid operators. Thus, MosaHYc is another pilot project contributing to creating a competitive hydrogen market", Jens Apelt, Managing Director of Creos Deutschland GmbH, explains.